


one life for billions

by beanfriedfritters



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Death, I Should Stop Now, Peter Parker Whump, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is not a happy bunny, during avengers infinty war, feeling depressed? well youve come to the right place, hah got you, honestly if youre in a good mood - dont read this, not sorry, rhodey is perfect, the author is sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 06:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16592801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beanfriedfritters/pseuds/beanfriedfritters
Summary: How the superficial safety of warmth soothed. It may heat the surface, but in their bones, oh their bones were cold, broken and shattered.akaa massive whump that you will entirely regret reading :)akatony gets back to wakanda, isn't happy with the turnout, and fixes it all.after all, what's one life to billions?





	one life for billions

When Tony returned, it was not to sunshine and roses. 

It was to the mourning of millions. To the aftermath of death, and to broken minds.

Tony’s mindscape was a landfill site; a mess of betrayal and grief buried deep below the surface. His eyes glowed, pain bleeding through, grief glistening. Peter, his kid, was… Peter was.

All that mattered now, all that had ever mattered, was finding Rhodey, finding Pepper. 

~~~

The trees in Wakanda were swaying peacefully, the hazy air smelt sweet, and the calming heat soothed the soldiers’ skin.

(‘We are not soldiers’ Tony had shouted only so many years ago. Oh, how wrong he had been. He had always been a soldier.) 

How the superficial safety of warmth soothed. It may heat the surface, but in their bones, oh their bones were cold, broken and shattered. 

~~~

Tony stared out at Wakanda, searching for his family. Tears blurred his sight, yet he did not dare close his eyes, lest he see his fears play out on the backs of his eyelids.  
He stumbled over twigs, logs, bodies. Everything that had fallen in the fight. Those who hadn’t crumbled. He felt numb.

He kept his eyes focused on a point far ahead, Tony Stark was a futurist, was he not? He must keep looking forwards, else he might see the ashes, the fallen, the never-again.

His eyes snagged on a shine of silver to his left. His heartbeat picked up, an erratic pulse coming from his chest. He turned slowly. The war machine armour leant against a tree facing the other direction.

“…Rhodes?” Tony choked out. He daren’t let himself believe it. Not yet. 

The armour snapped around, “Tones..?! What…” His voice was cracked, for once not coated with a sense of false levity. The face plate melted away, the nanotech retreating.

Tony stared at his brother’s face, bruised as it was, and let out a long held in sob. Tony’s broken exhale triggered Rhodes’ release of the suit, and with it, his composure. 

The two men stumbled towards each other, then clasped each other in a tight embrace. They sank to the floor, both sobbing, both shuddering. Rhodey pulled the smaller man onto his lap and rocked them back and forth, subconsciously cradling his brother like a young baby.

The inventor leaned away, wiping his tears roughly with his hands, “Pe-Pepper?” His voice shook.

“I… Tones, I don’t know. She’s… She’s not picking up.” Rhodes eyes avoided Tony’s.

Tony shook his head, unsteady, “NO! No... No. Not Pep. She can’t have.” Tony looked up, doe eyes filled with unshed tears, dark eyes smothered by pain. Tears tracked down his face, tumbling into his mouth, down his jaw, onto his under-armour.

Rhodey simply gathered him closer, letting his own tears fall silently onto his best friend’s shoulder.

~~~

Tony’s grief had parted for the moment, anger piercing through.

Tony’s anger had always been strategic, vengeful, and bitter, full of betrayal, ever since he was a young boy, making his way in the world. Now there was no world to make his way in.

He would get his family back. Peter, Pepper, Vision. And he would do it no matter the cost. Tony would push the limits and exceed them.

So, he set out on a mission.

Tony had never failed a mission. And he never would.

~~~

“You wish to revert it? It would take a great sacrifice, Friend Anthony.” Thor watched the unmoving man in front of him. He was so different to the arrogant man aboard the helicarrier all those years ago.

Tony stared unblinking into the demigod’s eyes, “I will do anything.” He meant it. Anything.

“It will cost you your life.” Thor warned.

“I will do anything.”

~~~

He did it, once again he finished his mission.

Pepper, Peter, Vision, Rhodey. They sat by his side as he breathed heavily. 

Each were in different states of distress, Peter had not let go of Tony since he had woken up, Vision watched his creator’s chest rise and fall as the man stuttered out his breathing, Rhodey stared angrily at the gauntlet nearby. And Pepper, she would not look at him. Her grief so obvious that she could not mask it.

He lifted a weak hand and grasped her chin. His grip was fragile as he turned her face towards him.

“It’s ok, Pep. It’s ok. You’ve got twelve percent of my everything in the will,” He joked feebly. She did not smile.  
His smile turned into a grimace, “Thank you, all of you.” He looked over his family, and finally turned his gaze on his kid. The boy had his face buried in Tony’s chest, he had begun to tremble.

“Pete. C’mon kid. Please look at me.” Tony ran a hand through the boy’s hair, hand shaking.

Peter shook his head. Tony sighed, he placed a hand on the back of the kid’s head.

“You’re dying, Tones.” Rhodey whispered, a broken tenor in his voice, “Why… why would you do it?”

“You know why, Rhodes.” He looked firmly at his brother, “You know why.” He said, quieter this time.

Peter burst into tears, his form shaking. Vision shut himself down, his eyes going dull, a stricken look on his downturned face. 

Tony breathed in, then again. He began to wheeze. Peter sobbed harder.

~~~

Tony locked eyes with Pepper, his voice weak as he asks, “Will that be all, Miss. Potts?” His eyes looked firmly into hers.

She sobbed, her breath caught in her throat. “That’ll be all Mr. Stark.” She spoke quietly, her eyes urging him to get up. Tony closed his eyes. His lips twitched upwards. 

But he didn’t get up. 

He died with a true smile on his face. How ironic for the masked man. The man who for so long, faked that very smile.  
Peter uttered a litany of ‘no’s as his voice broke.

“You need to get up, Mr. Stark!” Peter pushed his face into the man’s chest, “Please, please. Please get up..!” He bawled. “I can’t… Not another. Please… Da-ad!” 

Tony didn’t reply. And he never would.

**Author's Note:**

> well that was happy.  
> thanks and goodbye, *bows awkwardly*  
> \\_(*.*)_/


End file.
